[lbo-talk] [DEBATE] : (Fwd) Doug Henwood on elite climate change strategy

[Gar Lipow]

On 4/23/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> I'd love a progressive carbon tax in principle, though, aside from
> something like a residential electricity bill, I can't think of how
> to structure it. Should an aluminum plant pay a proportionally higher
> tax than an ad agency, just because the production of aluminum is
> very energy-intensive, and the production of seductive bullshit isn't?

There is a very simple way to make a carbon tax progressive  - in
effect that is. Steal the idea behind the sky trust. Take, revenues
from the carbon tax and divide them equally among the population. The
result is sort of flatly progressive. The very poor receive
significantly more than they pay; most of the working and middle
classes get back about what they pay (some castes a bit more, some
castes a bit less).  The rich pay a lot more than they get back,
though not in proportion to their income.  So very slightly
progressive, but better than extremely regressive.  And in terms of
winning a popular support, a whole lot better than any other type of
carbon tax. You might even refer to it as a "No Hair Shirt" carbon
tax.